Haven't You Heard?? I've Got The "Talk To Me" Face.: I'm Baaaaaack!: Long Lost Post about Amsterdam, Brussles and the Olympics

What's up everyone!

This post I'm sending out is actually one that has been a draft on Blogger for almost 2 years now. It's the final post from Newcastle that I never got around to sending. It covers our (Carly and I) trip to Amsterdam and Brussels and the Olympic games we attended (I was in Newcastle in the summer of 2012, remember?) The tense of the post is a bit off and I tried to edit it, but then I gave up. Apologies about that.

I'm going to try to get out one post per week, but we'll see how that goes haha! I'm also still working on the new layout so it might change a few times before I get it right. And my future posts will be way, way shorter than this one. I believe in continuity so I wanted to make sure the final Newcastle post got sent.

Thank you so much to everyone who read my posts and welcome back :) !!!

Click "Read More" to begin

Our Amstardam-Brussels Trip

This trip was particularly interesting because we didn't travel by airplane. There is an overnight Amsterdam cruise that leaves from near Newcastle and it was very affordable so we took that instead of a flight.

Port of Tyne entrance with our ship in the background

The cruise trip was surprisingly smooth and peaceful. As we left Port of Tyne I took some pictures of the English coast.

Tynemouth Priory from the North Sea

Lighthouses marking the entrance/exit to Port of Tyne

Me and the North Sea

Our ship was called 'Princess Seaways'. Obviously.

The sky at 11:30pm! Since we're so far north, the sun is out WAY longer than at home in the summer.

We went to sleep in the middle of the North Sea and woke up just outside of Port Amsterdam! Amsterdam is the capital and largest city in the Netherlands. Amsterdam was founded in 1257 and became an official city in 1300. It was named after the dam which created the city on the river Amstel (hence Amsterdam). Historically, Amsterdam has been a thriving center of trade. It was the home of the Dutch East India Company. Amsterdam is known for its canals, diamonds and financial institutions. It is also known for religious tolerance and respect for the personal freedom and personal choices of its inhabitants.

Lighthouses marking the entrance/exit of Port Amsterdam

We got off the cruise, got our passports stamped and hopped on a transport bus to bring us to the city center of Amsterdam.

Electric windmills were EVERYWHERE. We didn't get to see any of the real windmills though as we didn't book a tour for them. Definitely something to do next time!

Canals of Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a surprisingly beautiful city. Many of the buildings are original, as the city was not destroyed during World War II. Stereotypically, the city is known for being a dirty/seedy/hippie type place but this couldn't be farther from the truth. But like many European cities, Amsterdam has become a modernized, clean and safe place to vacation.

We made it to our hotel just in time for a torrential downpour of rain. We thought we would be escaping rainy Newcastle on this vacation but we were wrong. It rained every day. But we didn't let that stop us. We just brought our umbrellas everywhere we went.

The next morning, we woke up and headed to the Anne Frank House. Lines there are always so long so we wanted to get there early. Pictures are not allowed inside the house but you can take a virtual tour here if you're interested. The online tour shows the rooms furnished but they are not furnished in the actual house. The only things that are the same are the layout of the house, wallpaper and color on the walls. Surprisingly, the annex was bigger than I thought it would be but was still terribly small for 8 people to live in for so long. It was a really profound experience to be in the annex after learning about it so often in school. The atmosphere in the annex was muted, yet informative. It was an invaluable experience.

Next we went to the Tulip Museum which was just down the street. It was pretty small since the museum was just inside a house but we learned a lot about tulips and why they're so popular in the Netherlands. Tulips originated in the Ottoman Empire (areas of modern day Iran and Turkey) and made their way west through trade routes. The name tulip is derived from the Persian word for 'turban' (since that's what the Ottomans thought the flower looked like).

Apparently in the 1500s/1600s, tulips were worth more than gold. This is no joke. Tulip bulbs were HUGELY prized commodities. The tulip market crashed in the 1700s when people realized: "Hey, these are just flowers -__-".

Tulips on display at the museum

We waited on buying any bulbs because we knew we would get better prices at the Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market). This famous flower market stretches along one of the canals and offers every color type and size of tulip imaginable.

Beginning of the Bloemenmarkt

Typical tulip stand (picture from Wikipedia)

Carly and I each bought a bag of 25 mixed blubs to plant this fall! I've planted them since I've been back and the demon squirrels that live in my neighborhood made off with a majority of the bulbs. But we did get some really nice blooms from the ones that were left. I'll post pictures of the survivors when they bloom this year!

Next we headed off to the Van Gogh Museum. The museum was surprisingly small, since Van Gogh only painted for a short while. Also, some of his works are currently on tour in Philadelphia (figures!) and Ottowa so we didn't get to see them.

Pictures aren't allowed inside the museum but you can look through Van Gogh's artwork here.

Just down the street from the Van Gogh museum is the I AMsterdam Statue. Carly and I took some pictures there.

The full sign

I climbed inside the 'a' since I was too chicken to crawl onto the larger letters

Across the street from the I AMsterdam sign is the Coster Diamond Museum. Amsterdam is a diamond cutting hub and Coster is one of the most famous diamond houses because founder Moses Elias Coster cut the Koh-i-noor diamond for Queen Victoria after the annexation of Persia

Koh-i-noor is the big guy in the cross at the bottom.

Here are some more examples of diamonds from the museum (all are copies unless otherwise stated)

Katana made of Murano glass with diamonds and rubies inlaid in the handle. This sword has real diamonds and rubies in it.

Gorilla skull encrusted with real diamonds.

Later that night we got ready for our first Sandeman's Tour of Amsterdam: The Red Light District Tour. We met in Dam Square

Dam Square

And we headed off down a side street into the area known as the Red Light District

On the tour

I was surprised that there was so much to learn about this part of town. Historically, its been a center of prostitution for centuries. The city of Amsterdam have a very tolerant attitude toward alternative lifestyle choices. When Amsterdam was a major trading port in the 1400-1600s, prostitutes were tolerated in the city, as it was believed that sailors who were looking for a "good time" would visit the prostitutes, instead of attacking the middle and upper class women of the city. The Netherlands also legalized prostitution in 2000 so nothing that happens on the Red Light District is illegal anymore. The streets were clean and there were stores, cafes and restaurants everywhere. I think I expected it to be a bit cheesy and tacky; almost "Las Vegas" style but it wasn't like that at all.

This area is called the Red Light District because red lights on a window notify customers that the girl in that window is currently busy.

I don't have any pictures from the tour because its very difficult to take pictures in the Red Light District. The girls who work there expect privacy in their workplace, even if it is unconventional, so tourists are HIGHLY discouraged from taking any photos. The unlucky/stupid tourist who decides to do so could find themselves with a broken camera or worse. Our tour guide says he's seen the girls come out of the windows to kick the crap out of people who have taken their pictures before.

Belle statue

This statue is behind the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church... yes, church) in the Red Light District. It was commissioned by a former prostitute who opened the first Prostitution Information Center. The inscription on the front of the statue says "Respect sex workers around the world".

The next morning we went on the Sandeman's Free Tour of the city

One of the first things our tour guide pointed out were the crooked buildings (seen above). The city was built over the swampy, delta land on the Amstel River so many of the houses are crooked from sinking into the earth.

Former location of the Dutch East and Dutch West India Companies

Logo of the Company

Old Jewish Neighborhood

The next morning we got on a bus and were off to Brussels!

I expected there to be a lot more to do in Brussels than there actually was. The city was pretty and the people were really friendly but it wasn't much of a tourist-y place. Luckily, they had a hop-on hop-off tour bus so we bought tickets for that. Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union. The area of Brussels was first inhabited in the year 580. In 1830, Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands. Brussels is the home to one of the centers for the European Union.

Here are some pictures I took while we were exploring the city:

The Atomium

The Atomium was built in 1958 for the Brussels World's Fair. It is made of steel and is 335 feet tall. The shape is a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 million times. Tourists can go inside each of the spheres and look at panoramic views of the city.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart

This is a new basilica with construction beginning in 1905 and completed in 1969. It is one of the 10 largest Roman Catholic churches by area in the world and the largest building of the Art Deco style in the world.

Interior facing the altar

Set of stained glass windows

The basilica was very peaceful and it was nice to sit inside for a bit and relax.

A tacky and cute mural on the way

Manneken Pis

Yes, that is a statue of a little boy peeing.

Close up

Manneken Pis was installed in Brussels between 1618 and 1619. There are many stories surrounding the reason for the creation of the statue. Most involve some variation of a little boy getting lost and the whole city going to look for him only to find him around the corner from his house urinating on a street corner. Whatever the real story is, it is one strange fountain.

Right near Manneken Pis (since its a tourist trap) were some waffle stands. Of course we had to try authentic Belgian waffles!

Strawberries and Cream waffle!

This was probably the best waffle I've ever had. They make it with this batter that's almost like dough its so rich and sugary. And the cream was actual thick cream. Soooo good!

Not having our fill of sugary stuff just yet, we walked to find ourselves some Belgian chocolate!

Pierre Marcolini chocolatier

Neuhaus

Godiva

We browsed all 3 stores. They all smelled amazing! I ended up buying a box from Neuhaus.

Delicious!

After all this eating, we had to head back to our hotel and lay down.

So Carly and I slept off our waffles and chocolate and headed off to visit the European Parliament. We wanted to sit in on some of the sessions but Parliament was closed when we were there but the Parliamentarium WAS open so that was a relief! The Parliamentarium is basically an interactive experience of the European Parliament. Entrance is free which rocks. Every visitor gets an iPod that they can use to learn more about the European Parliament. We loved the experience! We spent almost 3 hours there.

'European Parliament' in all 23 languages of the member nations

The Brussels European Parliament building. There is another building in Luxembourg and the official seat of the European Parliament is in Strasbourg, France.

Original member nations in 1953: France, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, West Germany, Netherlands

European Union today: 27 member nations

Linear history of Europe from 1945. And Carly.

This map room was craaaazy cool. Each white circle on the map is an important European city. Those black podiums are movable so you just put one over the any white circle and you can learn all about that city.

Parliamentarium from the outside

The Parliamentarium was the last thing we had scheduled for our vacation. The next morning we went to the train station to make our way back to London. It was only a 3 hour train ride from Brussels to London and then another 3 hours from London to Newcastle.

We arrived in London at St. Pancras train station. Since it's an international train station, the Olympic rings were there to greet us!

Very exciting!

Seeing London all decked out for the Olympics made us even more excited for our 3 soccer matches we were going to see :)

Olympic Games

Later in July, Carly and I saw Japan v. Morocco, Spain v. Honduras and Brazil v. New Zealand at St. James Park in Newcastle.

Here are some pictures from the games:

Japan vs. Morocco

Inside the field, before the game began

Outside of St. James Park, all decorated for the Olympics!

The Japanese fans who cheered the entire game. Literally. All 90 minutes. Want to know any Japanese soccer chants? I now know them all.

The Spanish team watching the game. Yes, they were all beautiful.

One thing that is different between American and European sporting events is their use of "The Wave". You know, The Wave. Where everyone stands up, puts their hands in the air and says "woooo".

From my experience at American sporting events, The Wave only comes out when the game gets boring. It's just something to do while you watch your team completely dominate or completely suck. At the Olympics, they did The Wave all the time! I was confused at first, but I figured it was just a normal part of the game. So Carly and I did the wave approximately 25 times before we gave up, since The Wave gets ridiculous after a while.

Spain vs. Honduras